Provo police have confirmed that one person was shot during a protest Monday night near the police department.
The victim, a 60-year-old Provo resident, remained hospitalized Tuesday but was “stable,” according to police. The man was not part of the protest or counterprotest that had been going on, but was just driving in the area, said Provo Police Sgt. Nisha King.
Tuesday night, King confirmed two people had been arrested in connection with the shooting. Jesse Taggert, 33, of Salt Lake City, was arrested for investigation of attempted aggravated murder, King said. He also faces allegations of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, rioting, threatening use of a weapon in a fight, criminal mischief and firing a weapon near a highway.
Samantha Darling, 27, of Ogden, was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice and rioting.
Both were being booked into Utah County Jail.
“We definitely want to extend our appreciation and our thanks to all the citizens who provided evidence and testimony to our investigators,” King said. She also thanked Salt Lake and Ogden police for their assistance.
The victim was driving a white SUV on University Avenue and was attempting to turn onto Center Street when a group of protestors began “crowding around the vehicle. A male protester ran to the SUV on the passenger side, pointed a handgun at (the) driver and shot one round through the window,” according to a synopsis of the incident by Provo Deputy Police Chief John Geyerman.
The driver, who was struck by a bullet, “hit the gas trying to leave the situation,” Geyerman said.
Cellphone video recorded by witnesses shows the SUV appearing to push through the protesters, with at least one person falling to the ground.
As the SUV is speeding away, the gunman ran after the vehicle and fired a second round that went through the rear passenger window, according to police.
After the shooting, video shows the gunman then “conceals the firearm and continues to protest,” Geyerman said. “This same protester later approached another vehicle at 500 North and University Avenue, striking and breaking the window with the handgun.”
ht/ SB
In effing Provo? Utah?
Sum ting went wong here.
Cars and skateboards appear the way to go.
There is a more full vid with a guy pointing a weapon as the car leaves…in addition to the car being fired upon at the intersection.
I linked a video to this earlier today which showed a slow motion close up of the Clown with the gun. He’s clearly had some training. As these clowns keep getting more lethal they legitimize taking them out quickly, on contact.
If he had training, wouldn’t he have shot through the windshield? He seemed to be just another lurker type? In the crowd, in the second line firing from behind the front line? This is a disguising technique on their part, maybe Brad?
A pure anarchist.
A woman I know who has always relied on her husband for armed defense, now thinking about all the times when she is out running errands or whatever without him, is talking seriously about getting a gun, some training, some range time, and a concealed weapon license. This shooting in Provo adds fuel to her fire.
A major consideration is she has arthritis in her hands and has limited strength. Revolvers are an option but she’d prefer a semi-auto. I’ve been looking at suitable pistols and the S&W M&P 380 EZ caught my eye. Does anybody here have any experience with this pistol? Especially anybody with physical limitations?
Asking for a friend LITERALLY!
Youngest of Ten
Why in the hell would he shoot thru the windshield? It’s thicker glass and has a much bigger curvature which will cause the bullet to deflect more than punching one through a door window. If you’ve had experience with a pistol go look at the video and you tell me.
Weren’t the police staged a block away?
FFS!!!! stop calling them ‘peaceful’ protests
Uncle Al
I don’t no anybody that’s seen one yet. I would certainly get in 9. Ruger has a new one out too that’s suppose to be super easy to rack. But it only come in 22.
Provo Utah home of the Osmonds? A little bit country and a whole lot psycho.
We need a national state of emergency to deal with this. Those people consider themselves to be an army at war with America.
Uncle Al, do a searh for “ good gun for athritic people.’’ You’ll find several choices.
@Bad_Brad — Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I’d sure want a 9 over a .380 but in this case recoil and grip strength while shooting are major factors as well as difficulty racking because of a hefty recoil spring.
edit 1: Self defense .380 ammo has come a long way in the past few years. It’ll never be as good as a more powerful cartridge, but .380 is no longer a mouse gun cartridge.
I’m surprised that Ruger has an easy to rack pistol. Every Ruger I’ve shot (and I own one) has been on the difficult side. Not problem-difficult, but still a bit demanding. I’d normally not be very interested in a .22 but do you know if it’s available with a threaded barrel? (-:
edit 2: @Kevin R. — Thanks! Will do.
Uncle Al
Here’s a link. 22 is an underrated defense round. Especially for someone in pain. Shot placement means a lot. Damn small gun.
https://ruger.com/micros/liteRack/
Anyone caught and suspected of being ANTIFA should be locked up with no bail until they are identified and their source of funds and their handler is identified! What do we have Guantanamo for anyhow??? for terrorists!!!
From Ruger spec sheet:
@Bad_Brad — “Help prevent” WTF? Why not “prevent”? I’m not asking really, just sayin’!
But very interesting even so. I’ll have to take a look at that one. Thanks!
IMHO, this was supposed to influence the Republican primary and setup the Democrat talking-points for the campaign for the general election in November.
The Mayor of Provo, Nancy Kaufusi, is Jon-boy Huntsman’s running mate for Governor. She was damned no matter what she did. She chose to be damned by her citizens, and she is damned for sure for letting these punks have their “peaceful” protest in front of the police station and interrupt traffic up and down a main thoroughfare so they could shoot innocent civilians. I think she, and her police chief, should resign — tonight.
Local media are also damned for withholding accurate coverage of the protest (they had insisted it was “peaceful”) and the shooting until after the polls closed. Up until this article, they made it appear that the driver was the aggressor, had possibly run over a protester and probably fired the shots. It was not mentioned that he was in the hospital with a gunshot wound.
Now local news are advising people to avoid “peaceful” protest areas (like the police are), as if they are going to know ahead of time.
The Feds should step in and arrest every one of those protesters that surrounded the vehicle for complicity in attempted (I hope, but gunshot wounds can be tricky) aggravated murder.
We have more than our fair share of Karens here, in both parties, and BYU isn’t what it used to be. Kaufusi is playing to them. It’s what got her elected Mayor. The question now is, are Karens more concerned about Karen stuff, or are they more concerned about being able to drive their kids around without being swarmed and shot at by their neighbor Karens’ quasi-adult children?
That’s what brownshirts do.
Then they get rewarded.
Sessions is a traitor, and Barr is either a traitor or a fool.
“Help prevent” WTF? Why not “prevent”?
:Lost in Space Robot wearing tie, holding briefcase in one flailing arm:
“DANGER! DANGER! IMPENDING LAWSUIT!!!”
It’s the same reason parachutes don’t come with anything but a “lifetime” guarantee.
Uncle Al
I looked at the Shield 9EZ as a semi auto alternative for my wife. It is indeed easy to rack, and does have a great feel as a small concealable handgun. My only concern with it is that it has too many safeties. That may be of comfort to some but requires more training and practice.
The other problem is finding one right now.
Someone needs to come up with a smart phone traffic app that will show where the riots are taking place and which routes to take go avoid going through them.
But that would probably be considered racist and be banned.
If this shit keeps up the headline will switch to Innocent Driver Shoots Antifa Bastard
How many cops incorrectly used their pistols “hammer drop safety” while still aiming at a person and shot them?
More than a few. Never rely on mechanical safety devices 100%.
YOU are the safety.
(And that’s where “Help prevent” comes from.)
Look at a Kel-Tec PMR 30 It is chambered in the .22 WMR. It has a 30 round magazine and is easy to rack the slide. Hubby just bought me one for our anniversary and I love it. A horseback riding accident left me with serious damage to both wrists. Bones were removed and my thumbs are no longer attached to bone. So recoil for me is an important issue. I’ve been shooting a service size 9 for years but training with it leaves me Sore for days. First time out on the range with the PMR 30 I burned through several hundred rounds with no problem. It’s a tack driver too.
The micro pistols can be punishing with the level of recoil. I carry a Ruger LCP as my mouse gun but I can’t train very long with it. Granted it is a point And shoot weapon best used for short distances but I still like to be proficient with my weapons.
Another option is the Berreta Tomcat. It has a tip up barrel which allowS the shooter to load a round in the chamber without racking. It is chambered in the .32 ACP round which is less punishing to shoot as well. With a good defense round such as Hornady I think it is a reasonable self defense weapon Of course anything with the Beretta name is expensive.
Teachable moment…the young lady protestor with the red hair needs to sue the hell out of the driver who hit her with his car and local government should also sue the driver, we know where to find him…a thirty year life sentence will stop this awful road rage by people not affiliated with these peaceful Democrat Protest…send a few people to jail who use cars to escape a peaceful protest by endangering Democrats and house defenders to jail or just make them spend their savings defending their heinous actions in court for years…at this moment, the nation is watching the approval and encouragement of the End justifies the means..
As well as a gun, it might be a good idea to have some kind of car camera system to record events if you have to shoot someone and need to prove there was a valid self defense reason involved.
I read elsewhere this morning that they are “looking at” charging the driver.
I took a defensive pistol class sometime ago that included shooting out of a car.,The main take away was it’s pretty damn easy to sweep yourself while drawing and addressing the threat. This class taught pull, go to the high ready with muzzle parallel to the hood, rotate to threat and engage. Easy to practice in a chair.
.380ACP Windshield penetration test
https://youtu.be/FhfKSXWLNxg
CRUSH ‘EM! 😡